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The mystery of the 80000 serial number pinsetters

02-18-2007, 11:28 PM

In another post I had mentioned that The center im currently at has 10 brunswick machines lanes 13-22 that are in the 80000 serial number with 82420 being the newest of the bunch, according to a sheet brunswick says these machines should be factory A2's however, These machines are Jetbacks, They have the A2 style rake sweep links, but they have lowering links and I would imagine they were converted some time in the 60's. Goofier yet this house was added on. Originally it had 8 lanes and then expanded to 32 total. I havent quite figured out when this place was built. 13-20 now were the original 8 lanes. 21-22 have serial numbers that are close to the others less than a year apart. So its hard to tell if there was other equipment installed and then torn out before these machines were installed. But still yet more interesting is why these machines aren't A2's and instead are Jetbacks. Anyone have any ideas?, perhaps someone from brunswick may have some inside info?

Parts get swapped around. Do the serial numbers on the gearboxes and turret frames line up with the cross conveyor numbers? I also heard somewhere Brunswick rebuilt some pinsetters and put new serial numbers on them.

Comment

I might be a little off here, but I always thought the cuttof on Factory equiped A-2 was 90,000 and up. I think the 90 to 99,000 range was the best. solid sand cast moving decks and those sweet smooth scotch yolks, just put a jetback pulley on the motor and you're in heaven. not like these 1980 machines, with moving decks falling apart faster than I can send them out to be welded!
But back to the subject. If some one in the past was going to purchace machines to expand a center they may have upgraded Jetbacks to A-2. I've seen some people go to farther extremes! Just about the only thing I havent seen is model A with scotch yolk conversion

Comment

From what I understand, the 80000 series started the "Factory" A-2...but they didn't start with Scotch Yokes. They were called factory converted machines...worked as an A-2 but no Yokes yet.

I don't know what the serial number was where they started the Scotch Yokes...but with Nirvana04's input...it is looking like somewhere around 83000. Nirvava04...can we narrow down the serial numbers a little...what is the lowest with Scotch Yokes? Are any more of your machines in the 80000 range without Scotch Yokes?

Also...do the Scotch Yoke machines have the A-2 cycle solenoid mounting plates or the converted mounting plates? Are you going by the serial number on the gear box or the cross conveyor?

TSM & TSM Training Development
Main Event Entertainment
480-620-6758 for help or information

Comment

Everything on my machines as far as numbers go line up with each other. These machines would have been installed according to the list somewhere in 1962, which means they would have been A machines at one time? I've heard that jetback wansnt an option till 1965 or so, there is a sticker on the back of the machines near the switches that says brunswick automatic pinsetter with A-2 conversion. However these are not fully converted A2's they still had cable triggering until we put in automatic scoring, they have the old detector mounted new pins solenoid. Another odd thing is that usually you can see the old deck shield decal that was covered up by paint and and a new decal, these ones have there originals decals and they are simply the 60's style jetback logo. is it possible that the jetback conversion came out before 1965?

Comment

My Jap's were 69,XXX+, and the were in order. I think what happened was the Jap goverment required that the machines be assembled in Japan, or brunswick would have had to pay a large import duty on preassembled equipment.

So "B" shipped a crap load of parts to Japan for assembly and numbers went out the door. It looked like the gear box,turret frames and cross conveyor supports just had the letter "J" hand stamped in front of the factory index number.

When they needed to refresh the JAP inventory, "B" just shipped factory inventory from their production line here to there and did the same "J" stamp again.

My machines were some of the very first JAP's assembled there. They were install in a 5 story tall 100 lane center and didn't have the balanced jogger shaft assemblies for the pits. From what I understand the machines would get the entire building vibrating and it had to be condemded.

We still had all the original JAP power plugs(dangerous) and the 50 hertz motor pulleys untill the early 90's. The cycle time was about 7.5 seconds per ball. The league's use to finish a 5 man team/3 game set in about 2 hours!

Even "B" doesn't have complete records for JAP serial numbers, and don't go by the parts catalog on these machines. I use to rewrite my catalog pages everytime I found a mistake. And needless to say there was alot of them.

Jim Long

Comment

I'm fairly sure my Japanese machines were made it Japan. If you look at the step between the motor mount and the electrical box, you will see a big difference between American and Japanese. That step is the reason I can't bring myself to but a Japanese car until I'm sure the last worker who made those pinsetters is retired or dead.

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